Ice skate sharpening tool

ABSTRACT

An ice skate sharpening device comprising a generally T-shaped body member including crossarms and a stem having a U-shaped cross section providing a longitudinal slot extending the length of the stem is disclosed. The slot is closer to one side of the stem than the other and is undercut at the side adjacent the one side to provide a resilient, hingelike connection between the sides of the stem of the body member such that the slot may be opened to accommodate both hockey and figure skate blades. The slot is intersected by a recess centrally located between the crossarms for receiving two carbide cutting inserts which are secured therein at right angles to each other and which are transverse of and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the slot. A plurality of projections extend inwardly from the undercut side of the slot and engage a skate blade positioned in the slot to urge the blade against the cutting inserts whereby the skate blade is sharpened on drawing the device over the bottom of the skate blade. The skate is turned to sharpen both sides of the blade.

United States Patent Inventor Bohuslav Kabriel 324 Buckingham Drive, Riverside, Ontario, Canada Appl. No. 864,344 Filed Oct. 7, 1969 Patented June 22, 1971 [CE SKATE SHARPENING TOOL 10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 76/83, 51/205, 51/214 Int. Cl 821k 17/00 Field ofSearch 76/83; 51/228, 205 WG, 214

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,398,566 4/1946 Talbert 51/205 2/1951 Leteruk 76/83 X Primary Examiner-Bernard Stickney Attorney-Whittemore, Hulbcrt and Belknap ABSTRACT: An ice skate sharpening device comprising a generally T-shaped body member including crossarms and a stem having a U-shaped cross section providing a longitudinal slot extending the length of the stem is disclosed. The slot is closer to one side of the stem than the other and is undercut at the side adjacent the one side to provide a resilient, hingelike connection between the sides of the stem of the body member such that the slot may be opened to accommodate both hockey and figure skate blades. The slot is intersected by a recess centrally located between the crossarms for receiving two carbide cutting inserts which are secured therein at right angles to each other and which are transverse of and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the slot. A plurality of projections extend inwardly from the undercut side of the slot and engage a skate blade positioned in the slot to urge the blade against the cutting inserts whereby the skate blade is sharpened on drawing the device over the bottom of the skate blade. The skate is turned to sharpen both sides of the blade.

use simrn SIIARPENENG rooi.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to sharpening devices and refers more specifically to a generally T-shaped ice skate sharpening tool having a longitudinally extending sIot in the stem thereof closer to one side of the stern than the other which is undercut at the side adjacent the one side to provide a resilient body portion permitting opening and closing of the slot. A recess is centrally located between the crossarms and intersects the slot. Two carbide cutting inserts are secured in the recess at right angles to each other transversely of the longitudinal axis of the slot. The undercut side of the slot includes a plurality of projections thereon which extend inwardly and engage an ice skate blade positioned in the slot to urge the blade against the cutting inserts when the sharpening tool is drawn over the bottom of the skate blade to sharpen the skate blade.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In the past, available skate sharpeners have usually been a fixture mounted over a grinding wheel. Such sharpening devices have usually been mounted on a work bench and are therefore not portable. Further, such devices are cumbersome and dangerous to the untrained person attempting to sharpen a skate blade.

Skate sharpeners which are portable or hand size which have been provided in the past have not been acceptable. They have often been complicated and therefore expensive to manufacture. wherein portable skate sharpeners in the past have been simple and therefore easy to manufacture, they have not been efficient. For example, some portable skate sharpeners of the past have not been capable of use in sharpening both FIG. and hockey skates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention an ice skate sharpening tool comprising a generally T-shaped body member including crossarms and a stern having a slot therein closer to one side than the other is provided. The slot is undercut at the side adjacent the one side to provide a resilient connection between the sides of the stem of the body member so that the slot may be spread apart to accommodate both hockey and figure skates. The slot is intersected by a centrally located recess for receiving two cutting inserts which are secured therein at right angles to each other transversely of and perpendicular to the slot. A plurality of projections extend in wardly from the undercut side of the slot to urge a skate blade which is positioned in the slot against the cutting inserts so that the skate blade is sharpened on the sharpening tool being drawn over the skate blade bottom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I. is a perspective view of the ice skate sharpening tool.

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the ice skate sharpening tool ofFIG. l.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial transverse cross section view of the skate sharpening tool of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken substantially on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a partial longitudinal section view of the skate sharpening tool of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken substantially on the line 4-4 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a partial section view of the skate sharpening tool of FIGS. I and 2 taken substantially on the lines 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, partial, broken, elevation view of the skate sharpening tool of FIGS. I and 2 taken in the direction ofarrow 6 in FIG. I.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross section view of a concave ice skate blade bottom before it is sharpened.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross section view of a concave ice skate blade bottom after it is sharpened with the ice skate sharpening tool of FIGS. 1 through 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The ice skate sharpening tool 10 illustrated best in FIGS. I and 2 includes a generally T-shaped body member 12 having cross arms I l and a stem 16. Finger depressions 18 are provided in the cross arms l t for convenient handling of the sharpening tool it) when drawn over a skate blade.

The stem I6 of the sharpening tool II) has a generally U- shaped cross section providing a longitudinal slot 20 extending the length of the stem. The slot 20 is closer to one side 22 of the stem I6 than the other side 24 and is undercut at the one side 22 to provide a resilient body portion permitting opening and closing of the slot 20 to accommodate different size skate blades. The hingelike action provided by the resilient body portion is such that the slot 20 may accommodate both hockey and figure skate blades.

An opening or recess 26 is centrally located between the crossarms 14, intersects the longitudinally extending slot 20 and receives two carbide cutting inserts 28 and 30. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, slots 32 and 34 are provided in the bottom 36 of the recess 26, for receiving and securing the cutting inserts 28 and 3t). Slots 32 and 34 are of the same narrow transverse dimension as the inserts 28 and 30. Furthermore, the depth of slot 34 is slightly more than half the width of insert 30 to provide support for and impart rigidity to the insert. Slot 3 3 is transverse and located centrally and transverse of the slot R6, while slot 32 is transverse of and intersects slot I6 for a short distance adjacent side 24. In addition slot 32 extends into the side 24 of the body member 12, as illustrated in FIGS. I, 3 and 5.

Openings 40 are provided-in the body member 12 beneath the slots 32 and 34 to permit ready removal and reorientation of or substitution for the carbide cutting inserts 28 and 39 on inserting a pin therethrough.

The carbide cutting inserts 28 and 30 are of the same size and shape so that they can be interchanged between the slots 32 and M. The inserts 28 and 30 both have a rectangular shape with a narrow cross section, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus, the inserts 28 and 30 provide eight cutting edges which should permit lifetime skate sharpening.

The inserts 28 and 30 are positioned in the slots 32, 34 at right angles to one another and are transverse of and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the slot 20, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In addition, the inserts are spaced apart in a parallel arrangement to each other as shown to contact the bottom and one side of the skate blade 46 in the slot 20.

The longitudinal extending slot 20 in the stem 16 includes a plurality of projections 50 which extend inwardly from the undercut side 22 of the slot 20, as shown in FIG. 6. The projections 50 engage a skate blade 46 positioned in the slot 20 to urge the side of the blade 46 against the insert 28 with the bottom of the blade 46 in a horizontal position against the insert 30 whereby the worn edges 52 of the skate blade 46, as shown in FIG. 7, are sharpened by being reformed, as shown in FIG. 8, on drawing the device 10 over the bottom of the skate blade.

Hockey skate blades are normally I05 thousandths on an inch thick, while figure skate blades are thousandths of an inch thick. I-Iingelilte action between sides 22 and 24 is provided by the offset of slot 20 toward side 22 of stem I6 and the undercut of the side 22, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Therefore, when the ice skate sharpening tool 10 is placed on a skate blade $6, the slot 20 is spread apart for proper fitting of the skate blade.

In using the skate sharpening device 10, a skate blade 46 is positioned in the slot 20 by opening the slot 20 due to the hingelike action provided at the bottom of the slot 20 adjacent the side 22 of the stem 16 resulting from the offcenter position of the slot 29 and the undercutting of the side of the slot adjacent the side 22. The slot 20 may be opened by forcing the front of the skate blade longitudinally through the slot 2%).

The skate blade in the slot 20 is held against the cutting insert 28 due to the resiliency of the plastic material of which the body member 12 is constructed. The skate sharpening device is manually urged toward the skate blade so that the bottom of the skate blade makes contact with the carbide cutting insert 3t) and the skate sharpening device is drawn along the bottom of the skate blade to reform the bottom of the skate blade.

Before sharpening, the bottom of a concave skate blade, as shown in FIG. '7, will be rounded and somewhat expanded. After sharpening the skate blade, it will appear as in F 16. b with a small flat portion at the edges and perpendicular sides. Periodically it may be desirable to have the skates sharpened professionally to maintain the concave surface of the bottom of the skate. ln thisregard a separate insert can be provided for exchange with the insert 39 having a concave upper surface for providing a concave skate blade bottom if desired. However, with such construction as with skate sharpeners of the past, it will be understood that separately contoured cutting inserts must be substituted for the insert 3i) for each different concave contour it is desired to place on the bottom of the skate blade d6.

Also, as indicated, carbide inserts having other contours may be substituted for the carbide inserts specifically disclosed. However, they are not universally usable on different skate blades and are therefore less desirable than the rectangular carbide inserts specifically disclosed.

it will be understood that in sharpening a skate blade that repeated movement of the sharpening device lit) over the bottom of the skate blade is required. Further to sharpen both sides of and the bottom of a skate blade, either the skate blade or the sharpening device 110 must be turned around and the sharpening process repeated for each side of the skate blade.

What I claim as my invention is:

)1. A skate sharpening device comprising a body member having a slot extending thereacross and a pair of carbide inserts secured within the slot and extending transversely thereof and perpendicular thereto, at least one of which does not extend completely across the slot and extends outwardly of the slot a distance greater than the other insert, which other insert extends across the slot further than the one insert, whereby a skate blade may be positioned within the slot with one side positioned against the one insert and the bottom positioned on the other insert.

2. Structure as set forth in claim ll, wherein the body member is resilient and the slot is positioned closer to one side of the body member than the other to provide hingelike action in the body member, whereby the slot may be opened to permit insertion of different size skate blades therein.

3. Structure as set forth in claim 2, wherein the slot is undercut at the one side of the body member to further facilitate the hinge-like action and insertion of different size skate blades therein.

3. Structure as set forth in claim l and further including projections extending from the body member at the one side thereof into the slot engageable with a skate blade positioned in the slot to urge the skate blade against the one insert.

5. Structure as set forth in claim 3, wherein the inserts are of the same size so as to be completely interchangeable.

6. Structure as set forth in claim 5, wherein the inserts are rectangular and are positioned at right angles with respect to each other.

7. Structure as set forth in claim l and further including openings extending through the body member into the slot beneath the carbide inserts to facilitate removal of the carbide inserts.

8. Structure as set forth in claim ll, wherein the carbide inserts are rectangular and parallel and are spaced apart longitudinally of the slot, one of the inserts extends longitudinally transversely of the slot completely across the slot adjacent the bottom thereof and the other of the inserts extends longitudinally outwardly of the slot a distance farther than the one insert and extends into the slot perpendicularly thereto a short distance from one edge thereof.

9. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the longitudinally extending slot is positioned closer to one side of the body member than the other, the body member is resilient and the slot is undercut at the one side of the body member to provide a hinge action in the body member permitting opening and closing of the slot and projections are provided extending into the slot from the one side of the body member for urging a skate blade in the slot toward the other side of the body member.

MB. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the body member is generally T-shaped, the slot is positioned in the stem of the T and indentations are provided in the crossarms and at the top of the T to provide finger grips. 

1. A skate sharpening device comprising a body member having a slot extending thereacross and a pair of carbide inserts secured within the slot and extending transversely thereof and perpendicular thereto, at least one of which does not extend completely across the slot and extends outwardly of the slot a distance greater than the other insert, which other insert extends across the slot further than the one insert, whereby a skate blade may be positioned within the slot with one side positioned against the one insert and the bottom positioned on the other insert.
 2. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the body member is resilient and the slot is positioned closer to one side of the body member than the other To provide hingelike action in the body member, whereby the slot may be opened to permit insertion of different size skate blades therein.
 3. Structure as set forth in claim 2, wherein the slot is undercut at the one side of the body member to further facilitate the hinge-like action and insertion of different size skate blades therein.
 4. Structure as set forth in claim 1 and further including projections extending from the body member at the one side thereof into the slot engageable with a skate blade positioned in the slot to urge the skate blade against the one insert.
 5. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inserts are of the same size so as to be completely interchangeable.
 6. Structure as set forth in claim 5, wherein the inserts are rectangular and are positioned at right angles with respect to each other.
 7. Structure as set forth in claim 1 and further including openings extending through the body member into the slot beneath the carbide inserts to facilitate removal of the carbide inserts.
 8. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the carbide inserts are rectangular and parallel and are spaced apart longitudinally of the slot, one of the inserts extends longitudinally transversely of the slot completely across the slot adjacent the bottom thereof and the other of the inserts extends longitudinally outwardly of the slot a distance farther than the one insert and extends into the slot perpendicularly thereto a short distance from one edge thereof.
 9. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the longitudinally extending slot is positioned closer to one side of the body member than the other, the body member is resilient and the slot is undercut at the one side of the body member to provide a hinge action in the body member permitting opening and closing of the slot and projections are provided extending into the slot from the one side of the body member for urging a skate blade in the slot toward the other side of the body member.
 10. Structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the body member is generally T-shaped, the slot is positioned in the stem of the T and indentations are provided in the crossarms and at the top of the T to provide finger grips. 